Pieces

The music filled me as it played. I was laying in my bed alone, beaten and broken. My boyfriend had just left to go to the bar to hand with his friends. Which means he’ll come home drunk and beat me again.

I curled up into a ball as the song played, crying softly and silently. I felt helpless, alone, broken, and just sick and tired of all of this. But I valued my life more than being free of my boyfriend. Hell, I valued my friends’ lives more than being free of my boyfriend.

I quietly sang along, the song getting to me more and more until I was crying so hard I couldn’t sing along. I buried my face in my pillow and cried.

I looked around the room. The mirror on the dresser was shattered, shards of glass on the ground. The room looked like a tornado had come through and destroyed everything.

I looked at myself. Bruised, battered, beaten self. I probably still had shards of glass in my arms from where he threw me to the ground. Possibly a broken bone or two. It wouldn’t surprise me. There was so much pain going through my body that I felt numb to it. All I felt was the emotional pain.

I sat up in the bed as the song started playing again. My feet hit the cold, hardwood floor before I stood up. My body trembled as I left the bedroom and walked around the apartment. The whole place looked awful. Hell, it looked like a tornado had touched down in the entire place instead of like someone had been beat. Pictures that were once on the walls were in shattered frames on the ground. One of the walls had a hole from where he punched it, narrowly missing me.

I walked into the living room, choking up when I looked at the couch. I shuddered every time I thought about how he raped me there. It made me want to puke for hours. Everything was turned over. Everything. It scared me to think that one man did this going after me.

I walked into the kitchen, stepping on shards of shattered glass as I walked to the cabinet to get a cup for water. I opened the cabinet and pulled out the only glass cup left before walking over to the faucet and turning on the cold water. I filled the cup halfway before taking a sip. I looked at the ground at all the glass shards. Yup. I’ll have to clean it up in the morning.

I leaned against the counter as the music played from the bedroom. I had it turned up loud enough to where I could still hear it throughout the apartment. My eyes watered up again, eventually spilling over and rolling down my cheeks.

I was focused on my crying and the music that I wasn’t paying attention to anything else. Not the door opening and not someone walking into the apartment. The minute my focus switched was when I heard my name.

“Tara?!” I heard a male voice ask.

I jumped at the sound of my name, my glass cup slipping from my hand and falling to the ground, it’s shards joining all the others. I looked up, expecting John, only to see one of my childhood friends. The look on his face said it all. He knew. Fuck.

I started to take a step when he said, “Stay where you are!”

I listened to him and stayed put. He walked over to me, the glass shards crunching under his shoes. When he reached me, he took a good look at me and said, “I’m going to kill him, Tara. I’m going to murder him.”

All I could do was look at him. I hadn’t known that I was crying until Tom ran his thumbs under my eyes. “Don’t cry, okay? I’m getting you out of here,” he said.

My eyes widened and I quickly shook my head. “He’ll be back any moment, Tom. You have to get out of here!” I said in a quivering voice.

He placed his hands on my shoulders and said, “I’m not leaving you here alone with him. From the look of this place, he’s way too violent to be alone with. We’re getting your clothes and you out of here. Now come on.”

As much as I wanted to, I shook my head. “He’ll find me, though. He always does. It’s bad when I leave. He gets worse.”

“He won’t find you. And if he does, he won’t be able to get you. I won’t allow it.”

I looked at him. I wanted to believe him. Why wouldn’t I believe him?

He picked me up as gently as he could before carrying me to my bedroom and setting me on my bed. “Where’s your suitcase?” Tom asked.

“Under the bed,” I replied.

Tom pulled the suitcase from it’s spot under the bed and opened it, walking over to my closet and opening it. He pulled what clothes I had and packed them. I went to stand up and help him. “No. You’ll push the glass into your feet more. Stay where you are,” he said before going over to my dresser.

I stayed where I was as he gathered my small wardrobe and packed it. He looked over at my iPod and iHome. “Take those?” he asked.

I nodded. He grabbed both and packed them, along with my laptop into it’s case. After he zipped everything up, he pulled out his phone and called someone. He was on the phone a few minutes tops before closing the phone. “The Gs and Saki are on their way. We’re staying right here until they get here. I’m going to go lock the door so John can’t get back in,” he said.

I nodded and he left the room. I stayed there alone before he came back. “He doesn’t have a key, does he?”

I shook my head. “Plus he’ll be drunk,” I said shuddering.

Tom sat down next me on the bed, the two of us sitting in silence. “How long?” Tom asked.

I shook my head. “You don’t wanna know,” I replied.

He sighed. “Did he ever take advantage of you?” he asked.

A lone tear rolled down my cheek as I nodded. I wrapped my arms around myself and felt Tom wrap an arm around my shoulders, pulling me close to him as gently as he could. “He won’t be able to touch you anymore, Tara. I promise you,” he said.

I just sat there silently in Tom’s embrace, silently crying as he held me. I felt him run his hand up and down my arm when there was a knock on the door. Automatically, I started panicking. “It’s him, Tom. He’s going to kill me!” I said terrified. I clung to Tom and said, “Don’t let him in.”

“Tom! We’re here! Let us in!” I heard Gustav say.

Tom stood up and left the room. I stood up silently and followed him into the living room just as he opened the door, revealing Georg, Gustav, and Saki. All three of them didn’t see me at first as they looked around the apartment. “Where’s Tara?” Georg asked.

Pain shot through my abdomen, causing me to hiss in pain. Immediately, I had four pairs of eyes on me. I looked up and saw three pairs of shocked eyes and one pair of concerned eyes. I weakly waved. “Hi,” I said in a tone barely above a whisper.

Tom walked over to me and said, “Stay right here. I’m going to get your things, okay?”

I nodded. He walked towards my room when Gustav said, “Please don’t tell me John’s been doing this.”

I looked over at him and kept my mouth shut. Georg hit him upside the head and said, “No dip he has been.”

“I just didn’t want to believe it,” Gustav said as Tom reached my side.

“Can one of you guys take her bags while I carry her?” Tom asked.

Georg and Gustav walked over and grabbed my things as Tom picked me up as gently as he could. All four of us left, the Gs with my bags, Saki behind us, and Tom carrying me bridal style.

When we were outside and reached I guess Georg’s car, Tom slid in the back seat, keeping me in his arms the entire time. Georg and Gustav put my bags in the trunk and Saki got in the passenger seat. Georg hopped into the driver seat and Gustav slid in next to Tom.

I felt Tom pet my hair as we drove off. Away from the mess. Away from that life. Away from John. Back to the life I had. The life I missed. And I’ll get my friends back. “You’re free, Tara. You don’t have to go back ever. He won’t touch you ever again,” Tom whispered before placing a friendly kiss on my temple.

I smiled a real smile for the first time in ages and drifted off to sleep without any fear.